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Saturday, March 19, 2016

The Red Boat - in progress #2

Last night I dreamed of being back in Newburgh, Scotland and standing by the river's edge, searching for the red boat even though India let me know that as of her last visit, it was no longer anchored midst the Tay.

In my dream, a low, gentle sound could be heard in the background.

Almost a low rumbling, like very far off thunder,

but not quite.

Regardless where I walked along the shore, this sound was present.

It wasn't threatening, but was insistent.

Sort of like the friendly growl one receives from a pup who wants to play.

Not an airplane though, nor cars driving through town. I woke from the dream shaking my head and stifling laughter (didn't want to wake the house too early) because my waking mind recognized the sound immediately. Can you guess?

By Thursday night, I'd printed what felt like hundreds of layers and had sewn 6 panels. This was how the display board looked at quitting time. Good, but too many panels.

Yesterday morning, I decided to see if it would be possible to crop the photo so that the whole boat fit on one page. To achieve this, the paper needed to be 13 inches x 11 inches rather than 11 inches x 17 inches as the rest of piece is.

It worked great - one panel replaces two, giving a less cluttered look and feel. As this is all one humongous learning curve, I've been sewing the photo in strips - or panels - as cropped in Photoshop. While I like the look of the uneven panels as well as the movement they afford, I still wonder at my original intention to sew it all together into one big piece, rather than it being one large piece comprised of smaller components. The jury is still out on that one.

The extras stack is growing, providing ideas for additional works.

My one complaint about my printer (Epson Photo Stylus 2200) is that it gives no warning when ink runs low. That lovely yellow in the middle should have been red. Seems I'd worn out the light magenta.

So, have you guessed the sound that was present in my dream yet? Yes. My sewing machine. Time for a break today, wouldn't you say? Enjoy!

I had to smile when I guessed it was the sewing machine and discovered I was right when I got to the end of your post.I'm really enjoying seeing your progress on this piece. I used to do a lot of printing on fabric and I have a feeling I had the same printer, is it A3? I don't have the room for one any more.

Thank you Sharon! Did you print on cotton or organza? I've put both through the printer before and was surprised at the results. Have yet to do more than play with it though. My printer is an Epson Stylus Photo 2200 and is about 12 years old. Not sure about it being an A3 or anything. Ink jet though. Enjoy!

There's a printer tool (under utilities) where you can keep track of the ink from the computer. As far as I know you may have to be printing something for the printer icon to come up, when you click on utilities it comes up. My ancient computer isn't on, so I'm relaying this info from memory. I hope this helps.

With my printer, you must be printing to access this utility, although there's no doubt another way. My old printer sent out a message when inks began to run low. This one doesn't and I never remember to check. Definitely user error! Ha!

No prints swallowed by the printer as yet. Many folded or bent and one or two torn, but, thankfully, none have gone missing. You'd probably have been able to hear me yelling even over your way if that had happened. Ha!

We don't live near but visit N E Scotland three or four times a year as my husband has family connections there. I'm a southerner but I've grown to love the area over the years. I'm always bewitched by the light and the colours of the hills. I hope you make it back one day.

This is just so beautiful in all its iterations - I keep gazing and gazing and gazing. I love the layered, semi-fractal look; and look forward to seeing you trying to print the red boat on a single page. It's very technical and amazing! I did smile about the sewing machine noise...: )